Muse have shared the first official single from their forthcoming seventh album, Drones. The new track, titled Dead Inside, is a stripped-back pop-rock affair, and has arrived over a week after the three-piece shared their first Drones song, Psycho.

Speaking of the two tracks, frontman Matt Bellamy says, “[Dead Inside] is where the story of the album begins, where the protagonist loses hope and becomes Dead Inside, therefore vulnerable to the dark forces introduced in Psycho and which ensue over the next few songs on the album, before eventually defecting, revolting and overcoming these dark forces later in the story.”

Easily more radio-friendly than Psycho, Dead Inside (below) is lined with slapped bass, stadium-ready percussion, pop hooks and short guitar solos. Speaking with triple j‘s Matt Okine and Alex Dyson this morning, Bellamy described the song as “a dark take on a love story” which forms part of Drones‘ overall narrative.

“It’s the beginning of the album… There’s only really two songs on the album that have love themes, and this is kind of the song [about] losing hope and losing the idea of love and stuff, and then the album goes into a dark place after that. And then there’s a song called Aftermath which is kind of the end of the narrative if you like, where the person re-finds love again,” Bellamy said. Hear his full interview, below.

Drones is set for release in Australia on 5th June, as the follow-up to 2012’s The 2nd Law. The band last toured Australia in 2013, and have already been ruled out of Soundwave 2016.